With a few words, Annan had brought Free City tens of thousands of gold coins in profit.
And that was only the first deal. There would be a second, a third...
The other factions would not be so easy to persuade. Annan had only pulled this off because Vitalig and Girardi had no advisers at their sides and trusted him completely.
Wait... he had not approached Count Ulmit yet!
Figuring he had nothing to lose by trying, Annan contacted the count, who now went by Ulmit I and had taken up the banner of restoring the Violet Kingdom.
For the sake of their friendship, Ulmit I bought ten Guardian Golems. It was the price of keeping their relationship close.
"Brother Annan, you know me. My Floating City is so small that a few more Golems would leave no room to stand..." Ulmit I complained.
Annan told him not to worry. Once the situation in the Rikaner Kingdom stabilized and the Rat Plague in the North was gone, restoring his kingdom would be within reach.
Ulmit I looked miserable. The Ratfolk in the North had been held back, but the ones in the Old Land were still there. How was he supposed to clear them out?
Annan could not help him with that. He could not spoon-feed the man everything, could he? If he held off the Ratfolk and cleared them out for him too, why should he hand the Old Land over to him?
All he could do was keep hinting at how useful Knight Golems and Magic Muskets were: one Golem could fight an Epic, ten could wipe out a Rat Nest, and a hundred could remake the world.
"Too expensive, too expensive... My friend, everything you sell is wonderful. It's just too expensive..."
Back when Annan had been